We reached out to Mac to get her take on LinkedIn, the social network for business and
professional contacts. It's easy to use it passively and build a
glorified address book, but that doesn't come close to making
full use of the site.

Mac provided us with the following tips:

Leverage the platform to its full potential.
The majority of users simply collect contacts. LinkedIn is an
incredible resource in terms of growing your business, but you
must use it properly. The most common mistakes people make
include sending invite emails with pre-populated text (take a
minute to craft a personal message) and asking for endorsements
from people they don't know well. Also, if you want additional
access to contacts and features such as the ability to see who
is viewing your profile, it's worth paying for a pro account.

Build on your relationships. Write a friendly
message when first requesting a connection, comment on that
person's posts (assuming they're active contributors to the
service), and make introductions that this individual may find
useful.

If you're serious about finding work, you might want to
invest in a paid account on LinkedIn to be able to send
messages to anyone (InMails) and get access to more powerful
search tools. With this functionality in place, you're
able to actively seek out the people you want to work for and
the places you want to work.

LinkedIn might not have all the flash and appeal of other social
networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, but Mac explains that it offers
something much bigger:

"[I]n place of this overt sexiness is the world's largest network
of business professionals looking for new contacts and
opportunities."

Leverage LinkedIn properly and you might soon find yourself with
a better job, and a better life as a result.